Biography of Obama’s mom a timely salute to caring mothers

A newly released biography of US President Barack Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham (1942-1995), is a tribute to mothers who expose their children to different cultures and offer them the best education possible. 

The book, A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother by Pulitzer-winning journalist Janny Scott, is an incredibly rich, thoroughly researched, and riveting account of Ann’s life and lineage.

It shows that Obama inherited more than his mother’s physical features: the long chin, toothy smile, and the distinctive tilt of the head.

Mother’s faith

She gave birth to Obama as a teenage girl in 1961, and had faith that as a primary school child he would rise to be the president of the United States.

Although she never lived to see him ascend to political stardom, her wishes as a mother are fulfilled. She died in 1995 at the age of 52, a few years before Obama plunged into politics.

In the biography, Obama’s mother comes across as a fiercely independent woman. 

The writer reminds us that Ann married the Kenyan student Barack H. Obama, Senior at a time interracial marriages were not common in America because miscegenation laws were still in place.

Ann was outgoing and cosmopolitan in her associations. “If Ann had a plan, it did not involve sitting still,” the author says.

The book cites acquaintances that remember her passion for Africa and conversations about international affairs.

Non-western cultures

She studied anthropology and got a PhD in the discipline in 1992.

But while the image of an American anthropologist is that of a covert racist who likes studying weird practices among “primitive tribes” such as witchcraft, Ann is portrayed as sensitive to non-Western cultures that she studied and interacted with.

In Indonesia, where young Obama had his early education, he was exposed to diverse cultures. This exposure is seen in his respect for peoples and practices from other societies.

The Indonesian cultures value self-control. Fellow children teased Barry and occasionally threw a rock at him because of the colour of his skin, a development that made him strong-willed and composed in the face of unfair criticism.

Ann and her second husband, the Javanese Lolo Soetoro, never allowed their children to be mean or arrogant.

The book mentions that the most powerful man in the world today was spanked once in a while if he didn’t toe the line.

Even when chances were slim that she would be able to take Barry to the best schools, Ann was planning to enrol him in an elite primary school in Honolulu.